Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Cognitive and Developmental Psychology at the College of Islamic Studies at HBKU, Dr. Vahdet Gormez
Doha, Qatar: A new randomised study by Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has found that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who received psychosocial interventions alongside medication showed significantly greater improvements in symptoms and daily functioning than children treated with medication alone.
The study, titled “CBT, Parent Training, and Combined Approaches for Children with ADHD: A Randomised Study,” evaluated the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), parent training programmes (PTPs), and a combined approach as adjunctive interventions for children aged 7–11 already receiving pharmacological treatment for ADHD.
The findings revealed significant reductions in attention deficit, hyperactivity, and impulsivity among children receiving psychosocial support in addition to medication. Functional outcomes also improved across these groups, while the medication-only group showed improvement mainly in attention scores but worsening overall daily functioning.
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Cognitive and Developmental Psychology at the College of Islamic Studies at HBKU, Dr. Vahdet Gormez and one of the study authors said the findings highlight the limitations of relying solely on medication.
“The most striking finding was not that medication failed it didn’t but that medication alone solved only part of the puzzle,” Dr. Gormez told The Peninsula. “Children in the medication-only group improved on raw attention scores, yet their overall functional difficulties worsened. They were paying attention better, but daily life at home and school was not getting any easier.”
He explained that children who received psychosocial support demonstrated improvements extending beyond symptom reduction.
“Parents reported smoother morning routines, fewer homework battles, less explosive frustration, and a measurable rise in prosocial behaviour, such as sharing, helping siblings, and cooperating with peers,” he said. “Medication quieted the neurological noise; psychosocial intervention taught the child and the family what to do in the quiet.”
The study was designed to determine whether psychosocial approaches could enhance treatment outcomes beyond medication alone, particularly in reducing functional difficulties in school and family settings where behavioural support is essential.
Dr. Gormez stressed that parental involvement plays a central role in treatment success, especially for younger children.
“For a child between 7 and 11 years of age, the parent is not merely involved in ADHD treatment. The parent is part of the treatment delivery system,” he said. “A child spends perhaps an hour a week with a clinician and dozens with their parents.”
He added that parent training programmes often transformed how families interpreted ADHD-related behaviour.
“A forgotten backpack stopped being ‘you never listen’ and became ‘we need a checklist by the door,’” he said. “Boundaries grew clearer, praise became more specific, and the relationship moved out of a chronic adversarial loop.”
The study found that all three psychosocial approaches outperformed medication alone, although no single intervention emerged as universally superior.
Dr. Gormez added that while the combined approach offered the broadest coverage, families unable to commit to multiple interventions could still achieve meaningful gains through one well-delivered programme.
“If forced to pick a ‘best buy’ from a public-health perspective, I would lean toward group-based parent training,” he said. “It is shorter, scalable, and changes the daily environment the child lives in.”
The researchers concluded that psychosocial interventions should become a routine part of ADHD treatment, though they cautioned that the study’s relatively small sample size limits broader generalisability and called for larger, long-term studies to confirm the findings.
Dr. Gormez also urged parents and educators to reconsider assumptions about ADHD treatment.
“Medication is not the enemy,” he said. “But medication treats the biology of ADHD; it does not teach a child how to organise a backpack, recover from a meltdown, make a friend, or rebuild a relationship with a frustrated parent.”
“Our take-home message would be this: pharmacological treatment without psychosocial support is, for many children, an incomplete treatment,” he added.
Discussing the situation in Qatar, Dr. Gormez said the country has made substantial progress in child mental health services through institutions such as Sidra Medicine and Hamad Medical Corporation. However, he identified gaps in access to psychosocial support after diagnosis.
“Families often leave with a prescription but no structured behavioural pathway,” he said, recommending wider rollout of group-based parent training programmes through primary healthcare centres.
He also emphasised the importance of schools in supporting children with ADHD and that culturally adapted programmes tailored to Qatar’s family-centred environment are also needed.
Dr. Gormez concluded with a broader message aimed at reducing stigma surrounding ADHD.
“ADHD is not a moral failing or a parenting failure,” he said. “The goal of treatment is not to erase ADHD but to ensure the child arrives at adulthood with their self-esteem, relationships, and academic possibilities intact.”
“Medication helps. Therapy helps. But what helps most is a family that understands the condition and a society that accommodates it.”
